As the Universal Church throughout the world prepared to celebrate the Solemnity of our beginnings and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the church, Pentecost, Pope Francis announced that in October he will open a three-year Synod. The Synod will unfold in three phases of consultations and discernments —diocesan, continental and universal —culminating with the assembly in October 2023 in Rome. The Synod will be called, “One listening to the others; and all listening to the Holy Spirit.” In a way he is calling for a new Pentecost in our own day and time!
Since the Holy Father took over the ministry of Bishop of Rome, he has been an ardent proponent of the church returning to the Second Vatican Council’s attempt through the promptings of Saint Paul IV to become a more open and communicative community. The Synod of which Pope Francis will soon call will be a collegial experience for the whole church. Pope Francis at the 50th anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops spoke of his hope to be able to call a Synod that is “decentralized” including all the “laity, pastors, the Bishop of Rome.”
When I heard of this Synod being called by Pope Francis, I remembered that the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, produced a document titled, “Synodality and Primacy during the First Millennium: Towards a Common Understanding in Service to the Unity of the Church.” In a response from the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation, they affirmed the document’s view that true conciliarity as expressed in synodality, should unfold in three levels of church life, local, regional and universal. In the dialogue among these theologians of the Catholic and Orthodox churches, they concluded that a “new” form of synodality may strengthen the cause of Christian unity. As they stated in their conclusion, “Do we resist the temptation to define too much? So, we understand that Christian unity is a gift of the Holy Spirit that comes through holiness, prayer, fasting and sacrifice? Do we understand that everyday millions of families live with the pain of division in their hearts? Do we understand that our churches are emptier because we are missing the unity Christ prayed for, ‘so that the world may believe?’”
During its ninth Quinquennium, the International Theological Commission issued a study of synodality in the life and mission of the church. On March 2, 2018, Pope Francis authorized the publication of the document. The first sentence of this document sets the stage for what is about to take place over the next three years, “It is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the Church of the third millennium” — taken directly from a statement made by Pope Francis at the 50th anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops. He pressed that synodality “is an essential dimension of the Church.”
The document explains that “in the Catholic Church the distinction between the use of the words ‘council’ and ‘synod’ is a recent one. In Vatican II they are synonymous, both referring to the council session.” And in another place, “Although synodality is not explicitly found as a term or as a concept in the teachings of Vatican II, it is fair to say that synodality is at the heart of the work of renewal the Council was encouraging.” It added, “In conformity with the teaching of Lumen Gentium, Pope Francis remarks in particular that synodality ‘offers us the most appropriate framework for understanding the hierarchical ministry itself’ and that, based on the doctrine of the sensus fidei fidelium, all members of the church are agents of evangelization. Consequently, making a synodal church a reality is an indispensable precondition for a new missionary energy that will involve the entire People of God.”
It will also help to promote ecumenism. The document states, “Besides, synodality is at the heart of the ecumenical commitment of Christians: because it represents an invitation to walk together on the path towards full communion and because — when it is understood correctly — it offers a way of understanding and experiencing the church where legitimate differences find room in the logic of a reciprocal exchange of gifts in the light of truth.”
Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will come upon all members of the Holy Church as we All enter Synod for the renewal, healing and mission of the world.
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